Lyndon Baines Johnson elected to second term as US President

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

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Changes of government, elections and reigns

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Date of occurrence 1964-03-04

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United States (Location)

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Lyndon B. Johnson, who had risen to the office of the president after the assassination of Kennedy, crushed his Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater, in November 1964. Johnson successfully painted Goldwater, the leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party, as a dangerous extremist who could ignite a global nuclear conflagration with the Soviet Union or China. On election day, Johnson’s victory was decisive, as he won 61 percent of the popular vote, the largest margin of victory in presidential voting history. The final electoral college tally was 486 to 52 for Johnson. Johnson saw his resounding victory as providing him with a mandate to set in motion his Great Society Reforms, including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

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119 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Lyndon Baines Johnson elected to second term as US President". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=3426, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Lyndon Baines Johnson elected to second term as US President

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